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The Ring of the Nibelung
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(#18b basis of #37; #37 seems to influence a large number of subsequent motifs)

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[[#19ab]] Alberich's “Ring” of World-Power (The Limitless Power of the Human Mind)

Alberich’s forging of the Ring of power, and renunciation of love, represents man’s evolutionary transition from an animal dependent on instinct (the life of feeling) into the fully human being, gifted with that reflective thought which grants him worldly power.

(#19ab based on #17ab, which in turn is based on music characterizing the Rhinedaughters’ joy; basis of #20a; #19's chords basis of #50, #19a basis of #68 and #159; #19a's inversion basis of #51; #19b basis of #46; #19's harmony heavily influences many motifs, particularly under special dramatic circumstances)

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[[#20abcde]] “Valhalla” (the Gods’ heavenly abode)

The Gods' heavenly abode, a refuge from Alberich's Host of Night: A symbol for human civilization predicated on religious faith, the belief in gods, a waking dream through which collective, historical man involuntarily and unconsciously invented the gods

(#20a based on #19ab, which in turn is produced by #17ab, derived in its turn from a transformation of music characteristic of the Rhinedaughters’ delight in the Rhinegold; #20b may be basis for #113; related through its basis #19 to all the #19-based motifs such as #46, #50, #51, #68, and #159)

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[[#21]] Wotan's “Spear” of Divine Authority and Law (the Social Contract)

Wotan’s Spear, inscribed with the Social Contract, represents the prudence of egoism: this is an agreement whereby man’s egoistic motives, represented by the Giants, give authority to actual leaders and laws, or to products of the imagination like gods, to restrain each individual’s ego, to force each man to do good, for the sake of security and quiet for the majority, the common good.

(#21 basis for #28, #32b; #60, #62, #81AB, #96AB, #137, #164, and perhaps #115; #21's inversion basis for #47 and #82; one of three motifs comprising #83)

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